WORCESTER 
A teenage girl who apparently tried to grab a freight train's ladder near the Greendale Mall had a portion of her leg severed when she slipped and the train rolled over her yesterday afternoon.

“As the train was passing, the female victim attempted to grab onto a handle protruding from the train,” police said. “The female fell beneath the train and onto the railroad tracks.”

Police reported the incident occurred around 12:45 p.m. in the area of 100 Barber Ave. The teenager has been identified as a 14-year-old Worcester girl, according to police and a witness. Her name was not released.

The girl was walking with two friends, a girl and a boy, in the area of Dodge Park. They then went to the area of the Higgins Armory Museum, and then to the Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. tracks behind 100 Barber Ave.

Police said the teen was apparently heading to the Greendale Mall and the train was traveling north from Worcester to Gardner, according to the railroad company.

A witness, Jason Desrosiers, said he saw the scene unfold as he returned from lunch to his family's business, Crates to Credenzas at 100 Barber Ave.

He wondered what the teenager was doing as she reached up at the train.

“She went to grab the train. She fell, and one leg was over the tracks,” he said. “I was hoping she was pulling her leg back. I saw the train come.”

The girl was pulled 10 to 15 feet after the impact. Mr. Desrosiers said he rushed out to her. The girl's friends asked him to call 911, which he did. Emergency crews rushed to the area.

“I tried to calm her down. I said 'Don't move,'” the 33-year-old Grafton man said. “I moved some of the debris away from the wound. I put a clean sheet over the wound and put a blanket over her.”

The girl told Mr. Desrosiers not to touch her. She was talking during the ordeal and spoke with medical personnel when they arrived. Mr. Desrosiers was interviewed by detectives. They told him the girl probably lost part of her leg.

A fence divides the mall parking lot, near World Gym, and the railroad tracks. There is a hole in the fence near where the girl was struck.

“This is a common place that kids cross every day,” Mr. Desrosiers said, looking over at the part of the fence that has been pulled open.

The train was stopped in Holden. It is unclear if the crew was initially aware that someone had been hurt.

The train was comprised of two locomotives and 24 cars, with loads in three cars and 21 cars empty, according to a statement by Providence and Worcester Railroad Co.

“According to a report from the Worcester Police Department, the trespasser was injured when she fell from a moving railcar (toward the back of the train consists) that she was trying to climb onto,” the company said. A consist is railroad terminology for a group of train cars.

The company said the girl was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus. Her identity was not released.

“The crew operating the train at the time of the incident did not suffer any physical injuries,” the company said in the statement. “An investigation of the incident is under way.”

Yesterday's incident marked the second time in a little more than two years that local teenagers have been severely injured after falling beneath moving trains.

In July 2010, a 14-year-old girl's leg was severed at the knee when she slipped and fell while apparently trying to hop a slow-moving train on tracks near Stafford Street.